The Ring
The Ring of Walpurgis, commonly referred to as the Ring, was a group of witches led by Lord Azrael, who rebelled against the magickal government and sought to "purify" the world for witches. Most members had staunch Atypical beliefs, and practiced dark magick recklessly, with no regard for the law. History Forerunners Before the Ring itself came to be, Lord Azrael gathered a clique of students who considered themselves his friends, though he seemed to have little, if any, attachment to them. They were fellow students of Pendragon Institute, most of whom were placed into Heartbane coven, though students from other covens were also recruited. The group was a mixture of the weak seeking protection, the ambitious seeking glory, the thuggish seeking a more refined kind of cruelty, and the outcast seeking acceptance. Azrael's group of school friends were the forerunners of, and eventually members of the Ring. He managed to manipulate his friends into doing his bidding, and though several nasty incidents occurred, none of them were traced back to the clique. Formation In the beginning, the Ring focused on reforming the magickal government, as well as living proudly among Typicals rather than hiding. Over the years of the group's existence, it grew in number, attracting a great number of young followers. The group was named the Ring of Walpurgis, referring to Walpurgis Night, also known as Witches' Night. However, Azrael's ideals began to change. The Ring's intentions followed suit. From revolutionizing the magickal government, its goals became to slaughter Typicals and their sympathizers in order to purify the witch race and conquer the world. Because some, if not most, of the Ring's members were merely fanatics who worshiped Azrael, the members remained, still partly believing in the cause, and that their acts were noble. 1980s-1990s The Ring's activity during the 1980s and 1990s consisted primarily of stealth attacks, espionage, torture, and mass killings of witches and large numbers of Typicals. These events were initiated by members of the Ring, though not always on the orders of Lord Azrael. When the magickal government did not collapse, the group began to target magickal families who sympathized with Typicals. As a result, fear gripped the magickal world, and no one was sure who was safe to trust. Alistair Graymark and Eve Dearborn founded the organization Windigo, named for the magickal creature that only feeds on evil people, to rebel against Lord Azrael and the Ring. 1998-present After the death of his wife, Lord Azrael receded into obscurity, some wondering if he had mysteriously died. Many of his own followers were not sure what had happened, and were caught. Some were set free, claiming that they had been bewitched, while others turned in information on other members. Others still remained fanatically loyal to the Dark Lord, believing that he would return, and lived their lives in recluse. Ideology There has been a long-standing dispute in the magickal world regarding the relationship between magick and Typicals, and the status of magickally gifted people born to Typical parents. These disputes clearly date back to the 15th century, when witch trials began in Europe. The events of the Salem Witch Trials in 1692 brought Atypical beliefs to the forefront of the magickal community, and was later the cause of Volturnus Darcy's abandoning the Pendragon Institute and living the rest of his life in obscurity. At one time, witches and Typicals interacted with one another on a regular basis, though Typicals were not allowed in Avalon except in special cases (such as King Arthur). Magick was well-known throughout the Typical world, though it now only lives on in fairy tales and legends. Following the Salem Witch Trials, the International Council of Witches passed a law forcing these relationships to end, preventing misunderstanding, miscommunication and cruelty by enforcing the hiding of magick and bringing about the erasure of any Typicals' memories concerning magick. Not coincidentally, the Scientific Revolution began in the Typical world around this time. However, the Council's new edict wasn't without controversy and opposition. There were many in the magickal world to whom it occurred that, united, the magickal community ad enough power to openly take control of governments worldwide. For some, this was just a means of wealth, power, or fame; but to others, this was an opportunity to improve the world, to use power responsibly and prevent further tragedies based on xenophobia and secrecy. As for Scants, it seems their status has been the subject of sometimes violent dispute for centuries. By the time of Madeline Kingsley's first year at the Pendragon Institute in 2011, it was considered impolite to openly disparage Scants or use slurs toward them. Clearly, prejudice and belief in the superiority and supremacy of long-suffering aristocratic class persisted in many corners of the magickal community, centered in families descended from the Heartbane coven, most notably the Darcy and Nightingale families. In many ways, this form of racism was delusional just as Nazi white supremacism, relying on a romanticized, imaginary history of magickal genealogy, and conveniently ignoring realities such as partial or total Typical origins of most witches, the existence of Duds, and the lack of real differences in talent between blood witches and others. Like Germany in the time of the Nazis, most people were not openly prejudiced, but only a few were really courageous enough to stand up against it. Most government officials were content to ignore the problems of classism in magickal society. Organization The Ring was an organization of Atypical supremacists who coalesced around Lord Azrael. He found them very useful, and their ranks included magickal aristocrats that could accomplish his goals through government and money, and deadly, remorseless thugs of all stripes. Despite his followers' fanatical Atypical beliefs, Azrael was notably not entirely fanatical, though he did hold Atypical beliefs. The Ring followed their leader's orders first and foremost, and he treated them ruthlessly, often sending them on impossible missions and punishing them horribly if they failed him, even due to bad luck rather than incompetence. At his command, they worked against Azrael's opponents, Windigo, through espionage, murder and battle, and also infiltrated and undermined the magickal government of Michigan. When he needed tasks done to increase his power, he often sent them if he considered the task trivial enough not to warrant his personal attention. The Ring's other, more spontaneous activities included Typical torture and murder for fun, property crime, and plotting the eventual overthrow of the American Typical government and replacing it with a witch-dominated system. Although some members of the Ring appeared to be fanatically loyal to Azrael, such as Adrestia Nightingale, several only aligned with him for the ideals of purification and shared glory, while many others seemed to serve him largely out of fear. As soon as he seemed to disappear after the murder of his wife and child in July of 1998, many immediately renounced their loyalty and did not attempt to find Azrael in the intervening years. In turn, even though Azrael valued the services they provided and spoke as though they were a family, he saw them as no more than dispensable servants. Azrael was willing to sacrifice even the most loyal of them if it would serve him well. Some members of the Ring deluded themselves into believing that they alone knew and understood Azrael, or were even close to him. As a sign of distrust-based precaution, the Ring did not have knowledge of all their colleagues' identities; Azrael alone knew who they all were. This was done to prevent any traitors from turning all the others in. Becoming a member of the Ring meant a lifetime of service to Lord Azrael. The Ring had no opportunities to hand in their resignation if the situation looked grim; deserters would be marked for death. However, Azrael did forgive his servants who did not attempt to find him. Hierarchy Azrael's most loyal followers, most of whom were old friends from his time at the Institute, younger Heartbane descendants, mostly blood witches and people highly useful to Azrael for their wealth, skill or ruthlessness, were bestowed the honor of sitting closer to him during meetings. The rest of the witches who served him were sorted in his own mind according to their usefulness and other qualities, reflected in their placement at the table. The lowest rung was the mass of supportive rabble, loyal to Azrael but not useful enough for him to deal with directly. They were given orders and opportunities to commit crimes or advance themselves through the senior members of the Ring. On the same tier were witches under enchantment and non-humans of different degrees of sentience, such as werewolves, vampires and Ogres. These were pressed into service by the Ring, and sentient groups that would have otherwise remained neutral were brought into the fold with false promises that their grievances would be avenged upon victory in battle. Regalia and Insignia The costume of the Ring of Walpurgis (sometimes referred to as "glory cloaks" by its members), is perhaps the most distinctive feature of the organization, and is recognized by witches worldwide. The archetypal outfit consists of: a floor-length, solid black cloak (often decorated with a round badge bearing the insignia) and a black, sharply-pointed hat that includes a full-faced mask with eyeholes, often simply referred to as capirotes. The basic costume, which has some rank-based variations, is designed deliberately both to disguise its wearer's identity and to give the wearer an intimidating appearance. The insignia resembles the Sigil of Baphomet, the official symbol of the church of Satan, though it is simply an inverted pentagram with dark runes on each point of the star. Known members The official count of members was estimated to be anywhere between 900-1,500 in the Great Lakes region alone. As there were an estimated 300-400 thousand witches in the Great Lakes region, the percentage of witches in that area that joined the organization were, at most, .5% of the total magickal population. There may have been supporters and members of the Ring elsewhere in the United States and the rest of the world. * Lord Azrael (founder) * Tobias Blackwell * Erebus Bloodbourne * Tartarus Bloodbourne * Adonis Breedlove * Andrealphus Breedlove * Lilith Breedlove * Lucius Church * Justus Everbleed * Erasmus Gramercy * Leonard Gremory * Calista Highmore * Cyrus Highmore * Cassius Huntingdon * Galen Incendez * Arlo Littlewood * Adrestia Nightingale * Nenia Noll * Hector Pangborn * Malphas Periculum * Chilton Phenex * Naberius Rathmore * Daegal Sabnock * Bruscius Southwick * Astaroth Tenebris * Goran Thornblood * Will Thornheart * Venedict Trifonov * Morcubus Valac * Cerberus Weinrich * Stefan Zagan Defected * Marchosias Von Stein Affiliates & Allies * Various Vampire and Werewolf clans * Goblins * Ogres Category:The Ring